Oscars unveil official Academy Awards poster – AWARDS ALLEY

By Sean O’Connellhollywoodnews.com: The theme for next’s year’s Academy Awards telecast will be “Celebrate the Movies In All of Us,” a fitting motif as many of the films expected to compete celebrate the legacy that Hollywood has had on all of our lives.

“The Artist,” “My Week With Marilyn” and “Hugo” are just three of the films that throw parties for the art and craft of moviemaking, and so the tagline for the Oscars – revealed this morning on the evening’s official poster – of “Life. Camera. Action” fits like a glove.

One month from now, we’ll know with certainty which films will compete for Oscar’s top prize. Several pundits still have Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist” as the film to beat, though a few movies have climbed the ranks as of late to make it a legitimate competition.

Gold Derby, which diligently tracks the competition, has Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” and Tate Taylor’s “The Help” near the top of their expert list. “Hugo,” “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “Moneyball” remain in the running for an undetermined number of Best Picture nominations.

Here’s the poster for the Oscars, which will be held on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. Thoughts?

About Sean O'Connell

Sean O'Connell is a nationally recognized film critic. His reviews have been published in print ('The Washington Post,' 'USA Today') and online (AMC FilmCritic.com, MSN's Citysearch) since 1996. He's a weekly contributor to several national radio programs. He is a longstanding member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS), and the Southeastern Film Critics View all articles by Sean O'Connell Association (SEFCA).